Brilliant beaches you may not know yet, where's your favourite?

Being on the beach with my son is one of my favourite things.  There's always something interesting and enjoyable to do, whatever the weather.

We love riding the waves, splashing, paddling, skimming stones, hunting for treasures, building sandcastles and rockpooling.  The list is seemingly endless.

But I don’t like jostling for position, having to scramble for a bit of beach to lie on or make sandcastles. 

That's why I love quiet beaches. They may not have an abundance of facilities nearby, but neither do they have irksome queues. 

Here are some details of our favourite bits of UK coast and others recommend by Ready for Ten readers. Where would you add?

Porth Dinllaen on the Llyn Peninsula is one of my favourites.  This is a picture perfect beach, and idyllic little village harbour with plenty of things to do.  An important part of this village is the Ty Coch Inn, which has its own website and webcam which allows you to check it out.  You can also walk round the corner to a lifeboat station which runs open days and other events.

If bodyboarding is more your thing I would personally recommend Porth Iago.  This is a narrow south facing beach that often has brilliant waves for budding surfers.  For help handling the waves check out Maggie’s excellent Ready for Ten post on tips for bodyboarding.

Staying in Wales, Dan Moon recommends Llangrannog, a place that I recall our own Linda Jones enjoying.

Heading into Scotland and Tentsmuir was recommended by a few.  And you can find lots of pictures of a wonderfully quiet Tentsmuir beach on flickr.

Sandwood Bay also has a few fans, and you can find details of Sandwood on Undiscovered Scotland.

Kate Horwill says there is much more to beaches in the north west of England than Blackpool, and recommends Formby and St Annes.

Croyde beach in Dorset was recommended by Mia, although it may not be quite as deserted as some of the others mentioned.

For quieter locations in the south, Winchelsea beach could be a hit, as could Chesil Beach.  Although Chesil isn’t strictly a beach, it is a tombolo. That means it's a thin strip of sand, shingle and rock joining two bits of land together, so it's good for those interested in geography too.

Don’t forget that you can discover, and add your own beach recommendations to Skillscape.  Skillscape is our growing map of the UK’s best spaces for kids to play, recommended by parents.

For other UK beach recommendations check out Have a Lovely Time’s post about the UK’s favourite beaches. 

So have you visited any of these, can you recommend any other quiet beaches, or are you keeping them all to yourselves?

Photo Credit: Ian Newbold